Running head: DOG ABANDONMENT AND SHELTERS

Community Problem Report: Dog abandonment and shelters

The University of Texas at El Paso
RWS 1301
October 25, 2015
Sofia Herrera

Abstract
Dog abandonment has become a common problem around the world. Most of these dogs ends in
shelters, waiting for someone to adopt them; sometimes the waitings are longer, they can wait months,
or even years to have a new family. The most common reasons the people leave their dogs in a shelter
are "Lack of training, lifestyle changes, moving, not enough time for a pet, cost of dog ownership
(Pajer, 2015). Furthermore, there are two kinds of animal shelters, the ones that kill the animals if they
are not adopted, and the others that are the "no-kill". The United States has a serious problem with
unwanted dogs. The dogs that are abandoned, experiments lots of feelings inside them, they know they
can trust anybody, and when families adopt them, they require for a lot of patience and love, then the
dog will feel more secure. Dogs have feelings too, they only want to become a part of a family.

Keywords: Dogs abandonment, Animal Shelters, Rescue Dogs.

Introduction
According to the Humane Society of the United States every year between 8 million and 12 million
animals enter shelters, and as many as 5 million are killed because there are no homes for them. The
United States have a serious issue with the unwanted dogs. However every year they discuss about
whether unwanted dogs should be killed or not. All around world, animal shelters are overflowing with
dogs that are in need of good homes. When a dog ends up in a shelter, it is not their fault. These dogs
are abandoned for many reasons. Owners didn't think all the cares that a dog requires. Dogs needs
attention, patience, and love. Having a dog it also requires to buy them food, and other stuff; and
because the owners didn't have patience, time, or the extra money to buy stuff for their dogs, they
prefer to leave them in a shelter. There are also more reasons of why dogs ends up in a shelter. This
report will cover the main reasons of why dogs ends up in shelters, information about why people
abandon animals, animal shelters, dealing with rescue dogs and their abandonment issues, and a case
of a dog abandonment.

Main reasons of why dogs ends up in shelters

There are many reasons of why dogs ends up in shelters; they didn't ask to end up in a shelter, the
owner simply have their own reasons of why they can't take anymore of their pet. According to Cesar's
way website, the reasons dogs end up in shelters are: Lack of training, lifestyle changes, moving, not
enough time for a pet, cost of dog ownership, health issues, biting, too many animals in the home,
allergies within family household, strays and rescues.
The first reason is "Lack of training." Dogs do not come trained. They need leaders who are willing to
put rules, boundaries, and limitations. There are dogs that needs more training than others, but this
problem can be resolved with dedication and patience, but it is necessary to spend time with them, and
teach them commands. The second one, "Lifestyle changes". People getting divorce, having a new
baby, losing their job, or encountering difficulties with their health, are the most common reasons of
why dogs end up in shelters. For example, the people that just lose their job, prefer to remove costs,
and one of those costs are the "dog", so they prefer to leave them in a shelter. The third one, "Moving".
When people decide to move from their old house to a new one, sometimes they decide to start there
new life without their dog. The most common reasons are because they want to keep clean their new
home, if the home is rented maybe they don't accept dogs, or if the person is moving with a roommate,
and the roommate doesn't like dogs or have allergies, they prefer to leave them in a shelter. The fourth

one, "not enough time for a pet". People 's live are busy and having a dog requires making time to
properly care for it. Everyone can have a dog, but not everyone give them the properly care. One of the
main reasons that dogs end up in shelters is that their people get busy and start to prioritize other things
above the dog, thus neglecting its needs. The fifth one, "Cost of dog ownership". Having a dog required
to have money. Vet bills, boarding, buying food, toys, and grooming are things that dogs need. When
people realize that having a dog is expensive, they leave them in a shelter. The sixth one, "Health
issues". Old dogs and dogs with injuries and other health-related issues require more money, time,
patience, and attention than healthy dogs. When that happens, there are people that prefer to get rid of
the dogs versus continue to care for them. The seventh one, "biting". When a dog have bitten a member
of the family. Instead of taking care of the dog behavior with specific training, they prefer to leave them
in a shelter. The eight one, "Too many animals in the home". When there are many animals in a home,
it can happen that they fight between them, and that can be a problem. The owners prefer to leave the
aggressive pet in a shelter instead of asking a professional for help. The ninth one, "Allergies within
family household". When a member of the family have a allergy because of the dog, they prefer to go
to the easy way, and leave the dog in a shelter, when they can actually treated themselves with specific
medicine for allergies. Last one, "Strays and rescues". There are people that rescue dogs from the street
and give them temporary home, but when they can't take care of them more, they live them in a shelter,
hoping that someone will adopt them.
Furthermore, as stated before, there are many reasons of why dogs are abandoned. A lot of dogs came
to shelters, but the most that touch the heart of everyone are the "owner surrenders", these are dogs who
had a home and lost it. According to PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), moving and
behavioral problems, are the most common reasons of why dogs are abandoned.
PETA (2010) says that Moving is a typical excuse of leaving their dogs in a shelter. Pajer (2015)
agrees, stating that "Moving is the third most popular reason of why dogs end up in shelters." However,
many of the paperwork of each dog in the shelter said: "No space in new home for dog" or "New

landlord does not allow dogs". But all too often the move is just an excuse. One study showed that
more than half of the people surrendering animals because of moving also report behavior problems. In
other words, the move often isn't the real issue. Also, PETA (2010) states that "Behavioral problems,
are another common reason of why dogs are abandoned. Pajer (2015) agrees saying that Behavioral
issues, for instance, can typically be traced back to the way in which their former caretakers handled
them. Biting or aggression in dogs are very common in behavioral problems, and most of this
problems can be resolved, but people may lack the knowledge or commitment needed to do the work.
When they give a dog with an aggressive behavior in shelter, they can adopt them, but there are
probabilities that the new owners will return the dog because of their bad behavior. These kind of dogs
needs help, like more attention, and specific training for the owner or from a professional. The most
important job in a animal shelter is to reduce the number of abandonments through outreach and
education. Shelters can help to educate adopters about the commitment involved in being an animal
caregiver. People surrender for their dogs because they think it's the only possible solution, they prefer
to take them to the shelter to end the problem; but actually they can ask for help to professional people.

For Animal Shelters, Two Paths.

Dozen of dogs are abandoned each year in shelters. There are two kinds of shelters, the "no-kill" and
the other one who kill the animals if they don't adopt them. These dogs have two possibilities, to have a
happy ending or not. When these dogs touch someone's heart, they wind up in new homes. If not, their
lives can be in peril.
In Washington, the debate about whether unwanted pets should be killed or not is played out every
year. The United States have a huge problem with the unwanted dogs, there are overpopulation of
them. Every year between 8 million and 12 million animals enter shelters, and as many as 5 million are
killed because there are no homes for them. In six years, one female dog and her offspring can produce

as many as 67,000 dogs. ''We realize that our nation's shelters are overrun with unwanted animals,'' and
We feel that pet overpopulation is a situation of serious concern state American Humane Association.
There are many dogs, but not enough homes. Lynda Foro, founder and president of the nonprofit
organization Doing Things for Animals, state ''My guesstimate is that there are probably 3,000 no-kills
out there,'' and "adding that there are about 6,000 organizations in business to help animals or solve
problems of homeless animals.'' During the 1980's and 1990's, the no-kill shelters grew in number and
popularity, because they were raising money by promising that no healthy dogs or cats would be put to
death. Now, things are different, municipal animal shelters, have responses that it is impossible to
house and feed all the unwanted dogs in the country, because there are so many and is actually
impossible. The animals who are not adoptable because of behavior problems or because they do not
adjust to confinement must be put to death.

Animal Rescue: Pet abandonment is a Major issue

One case of pet abandonment is the one of "Major" the St. Bernard. Major's story touched the heart of
many people, he is an example of pet abandonment. Major was found tied to a tree with dog food
scattered just out of his reach. This is an example of animal cruelty, because without food, he will
probably died. The video shows Major being grateful with their rescuers, he looks very happy. Also
because of this, Major was exposed to dangerous, he was tied, and with the food scattered just out of
his reach. It could get the attention of any animal, and because that he was tied, he couldn't defend
himself. When the rescuers found Major, they saw this like a miracle, because Major could probably be
dead if nobody found him. It was a miracle that they found him alive.
According to shelters, these kind of pet abandonment happen too many times. They used these pet
abandonment cases to alert pet owners, that there are more options. Ask for help instead of leaving a
dog alone. Now, Major is enjoying his time in humane society, he become one of the most favorite

dogs from the staff. Sadly, "75% of the animals that came to their shelter, were abandoned just like
major", explain the shelter. Not all the abandoned dogs are found healthy like Major, there are also
dogs that requires more health attention than others. The Humane Society Shelter also explain that
there are other ways instead of abandoning a dog. They offer help to the people that needs to find a new
home for their dog, abandoning a dog is not good.

Dealing with rescue dogs and their abandonment issues

Many rescue dogs have in common that they have abandonment issues. They experiment feelings
inside them; nobody knows the exact feelings that these dogs have inside them, but they tried to show
us how they feel. Some of this dogs were just abandoned for their owners and never returned. At the
time they were abandoned, they feel that they cannot trust anybody. All the dogs depends from their
owners. This is a very hard phase for them, they requires specific cares, giving them patience and love
and show them that they are in a forever home, and that nothing bad will happen to them again. With
time, the dog will feel more secure.
Betty B. is a woman that adopted a senior rescue dog. She explains her experience with this dog, the
name of the dog was Sam. Well he attached himself to my husband instantly when we got home. The
first time my husband left for a meeting, when I let "Sam" out to potty he saw the pickup was gone and
it was the saddest thing I have ever seen. Sam was so confused that he circled the house on a dead run
looking for my husband. After a couple more times he learned to feel secure when only I was home.
said Betty B. After 30 days, "Sam" was adapted in their new home. Betty B. describes Sam as
"Wonderful dog!". In order that Sam was adapted, Betty and her husband gave him lot of patience, and
now, they are very happy with Sam. Most of the time, rescue dogs spend short time in foster home until
they are adopted, because there are no space in shelters for more animals. However, many of these dogs
have been abandoned several times, and because of that, these dogs become more insecure and also

they have issues in trusting humans. As stated before, these kinds of dogs requires more attention.
Another common issue that a rescue dog can experiment is that most of the time they may feel scared,
because they don't want their new owners to leave them alone or they just not want to leave their foster
home, they may think they could be abandoned again. However, there are special trainings and
treatments for abandonment dogs. The training is to leave the dog alone for one minute, then return,
leave the dog again for two minutes, then return again, continue like this for at least 15 minutes. Doing
this procedure for at least some weeks, and the dog will feel more secure. This takes time and patience.
The treatments for abandonment dogs are offered in many places, there has also been success with
acupressure and acupuncture for dogs.

Conclusion and Recommendations

Dogs abandonments happen too often, there are two types of dog abandonments: The owners that
abandoned them in the streets, woods, or other places, and the ones who leave them in a shelter. There
are reasons of why dogs ends up in shelters, the most common of them are because the owners are
moving, or because the bad behavior of the dogs. There are solutions for all that, the shelters also offer
help. Furthermore, there are two types of shelters, the "no-kill" and the other one that kill the dogs if
they are not adopt. There are overpopulation of unwanted dogs, this is a huge problem in the United
States. There are many dogs in shelters that sometimes they prefer to kill them, because nobody are
adopting them and also because the overpopulation is immense. Having a dog requires many things,
like money, time, and patience. When someone doesn't have the time to take care of a dog, they are
moving to another house, or another reason, that's when dogs ends up in streets or shelters. Experts in
dogs recommend to think all the needs of a dog before adopting or buying, a happy dog requires
attention and love. Dogs can't speak, they need us in order to survive. Also, another solution is to
encourage people to spay and neuter their dogs, so there will be fewer unwanted puppies.

References
Pajer, N., (2015, August). Reasons dogs end up in shelters. Retrieved from
https://www.cesarsway.com/get-involved/rescue/reasons-dogs-end-up-in-shelters-rescue-series-pt1

Towell, L., (2010, January). PETA Prime: Why People Abandon Animals. Retrieved from
http://prime.peta.org/2010/01/why-people-abandon-animals

Baranauckas, C., (2001, July). For Animal Shelters, Two Paths. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/nyregion/for-animal-shelters-two-paths.html?pagewanted=all

Misciagna, V., (2015, April ). Animal Rescue: Pet abandonment is a Major issue. Retrieved from
http://www.wptz.com/news/humane-society-pet-abandonment-is-a-major-issue/32149780

Wentzel, J., (2014, January). Dealing with rescue dogs and their abandonment issues. Retrieved from
http://www.examiner.com/article/dealing-with-rescue-dogs-and-their-abandonment-issues